Somma of love U-turn for Simon Grayson

An article in the Nottingham Evening Post reveals that Simon Grayson has done a complete U-turn on his plans for Davide Somma next season.

According to the Nottingham newspaper, Lincoln City had requested to continue Davide’s loan into 2011, after the South African striker impressed on loan there last season. They claim Simon Grayson was happy for Somma to return to Lincoln to gain further experience. However, it seems Larry has gone full circle with his plans and now wishes to keep Somma at Leeds – presumably after his performances on tour in Slovakia.

After scoring 9 goals in 14 appearances for Lincoln last season, many Leeds fans were desperate to see him in action for the Whites, but Larry honoured the loan agreement and allowed Somma to stay with City until the end of the campaign. Somma is widely regarded by Lincoln fans as a saviour after his goal scoring run helped stave off relegation for the club.

This news undoubtedly raises more questions about our continued search for a Jermaine Beckford replacement;

Is Davide Somma a diamond in the rough, capable of leading Leeds United’s front line through a gruelling Championship campaign?

If so, does this mean Simon is happy with his striking options, and the much awaited arrival of Gary Hooper is never going to happen?

Are Paynter, Becchio, Grella and Somma capable of providing enough goals for a successful Championship season?

@Rothwellbornandleft I totally agree, in my opinion he is now behind Somma who is clearly showing the benefit of a run of games in an English league.

les irwin

i ve said for a while and again on here in my post that grella needs a loan out til christmas i cant understand why he hasnt, a league i side would be good .notts county wanted somma let them have grella he needs some games on a regular basis

Mr Flinn

I don’t think Grella’s problem is in confidence, it’s about getting his oppurtunity, unfortunatley for him his time at Leeds United has been plauged by undroppable strikers, all he can do is sit back and watch.

A loan though may be for the best, just to keep him happy and so Leeds United don’t end up losing him to someone else which would be a huge shame as the quality is obviously there.

Matt BB

absolutely agree, Somma has the advantage of confidence now that Grella doesnt. A loan will provide that and hopefully Larry will see to it. I think Grella has bags of potential though I see him more in a sort of Oezil role just behind the strikers than out and out striker.

bad

we defo need someone with a bit of pace and a good scoring record . im starting to believe thats it for hooper but i hope not.. all depends on how much is really wanted for him .cant be anymore than 2 mill really as leeds couldn’t pull 2 mill for beckford with 1 year left on his contract .

Matt BB

I thinbk we’d be better off moving snodgrass further up front, and purchasing a forward thinking central midfielder, we’d then have Gradel and Sam on thw wings, becchio and paynter would then be the poachers with snodgrasds the striker with pace.

I don’t think they’re enough to get Leeds promoted but they are good enough to make Leeds mid table. And I reckon that’s the plan and that’s why there won’t be any big money signings.

I think SG’s 3 year contract shows a 3 year plan to get Leeds into the PL. I can’t recall any club getting back to back promotions from L1 to Champ to PL (unless Man City did that? Not sure).

I reckon the club will see how they do this season and from that they’ll know exactly where their weaknesses are. Then they can go out and spend and rectify them. SG doesn’t really know how well these players can do until they’ve played for a season in the Championship.

TheReaper08

@colin With Somma showing such a massive improvement my imaginary tenner with you on Grella being a starter by Xmas is looking more secure every day

Colin

@TheReapero8
Oh no, I’d forgot about that!! Did I say Grella? I meant to say an American would be a starter by Xmas

Craig

@colin – good try but Somma is South African… You can’t wriggle out mate!

Colin

@ craig – Arrgh! Ok, some foreign chap might play up front for Leeds by Xmas.

Does that count? Ok, I’ll get my coat.

I think I might have just lost an imaginary £10

Craig

I’d stick by Grella if I were you. I don’t think a big money signing is coming our way any time soon and you may find Grella works his way into the team after all.

TheReaper08

@colin i wouldn’t be worrying too much yet, your £10 might be safe as I still think we are light up front. If Grella takes his chance when it comes then who knows………

Grumpy

Do you not think that Simon’s 3 year contract is Papa Smurf’s insurance policy so he can ‘rake it in’ when/if Simon leaves for another club?

Shaun malone

I always said we could do wiv man steppin up to challenge and if Tht man somma all is good but still need a pacey forward unless larry think Tht max gradel thn we no we’re not signing another forword will somma get us goals only time will tell but dont listen to reports from outside leeds cause they just want disturb are players unless larry says it true we all no it nearly aint

Colin

@Shaun malone i too think that Gradel could be a player that SG uses off the front Striker in replacement for another striker

worried man

somma looks decent but theres a question mark over whether he can step up to championship level, bottom line is were skint, forget hooper its not gonna happen, im really dissapointed to be honest, this really was the time to show some ambition while weve got the momentum, im not talking mega money just a few mil to bring in that extra bit of quality that could make the difference from mid table to promotion, like to know what anybody else thinks

yorkwhite

What I want to know is are Middlesbrough going to re name their ground Park Head or Ibrox for the start of the new season? Sorry TSS back to the subject It would be good to see both Somma and Grella get a chance next season but realistically we still need a proven striker.

timm

Definately Park Head. Only one blue among a team full of former green & whites. Not so sure it’ll work to be honest? Sometimes it does a club good to go back a step (Newcastle last season for instance} Southgate was doing a good job there & i reckon he’d have got them back up.

Dje

@timm

Two from Ibrox: Boyd and Thomson – Kenny Miller must be feeling like he’s the wee lad and last to get selected when the bigger b(h)oys pick their teams.

I think Southgate isn’t there because he got them relegated in the first place – I’m not sure you deserve the right to get them back up after that, and with the money he spent when they were in the Premiership.

It’s an interest experiment though at Middlesbrough: bit of a test to see what level Scottish Premier League (ex) players can carry a team in England. I fancy Middlesbrough will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season – but as much down to Strachan & McAllister as to the players they bring in.

It might be beneficial to the Scotland national team having more of their players playing in more competitive leagues down south, but it can’t be good news for the state of the SPL – no money and now no players.

yorkwhite

I was wondering if the old firm matches were going to be seven a side this year cos wee GS has brought them all south? It will be good to see how they get on though.

Colin

I’ve seen the highlights and Somma seems to be the best striker at the moment. Paynter seems to be pretty decent also. Worryingly, Becchio hasn’t really done much at all.

I saw an interview with Phil Hay of YEP and he suggested that Somma was showing all the attributes of a player that’s really confident and believes he is the greatest. Maybe Somma is a bit cocky, but it seems like he’s on fire right now. And to be fair, he probably has to be to prove to SG that an ex loanee to Lincoln is worth a start in the Championship.

Maybe he is the diamond in the rough! One thing’s for sure, he’s looking very proud to be wearing that Leeds shirt.

TheReaper08

@colin You need your top strikers to be a bit cocky, a bit arrogant. I would be disappointed if he wasn’t.

TSS

@TheReaper08 Totally agree with regards to arrogance. I think we’ve had this discussion before with Beckford the player in question. All the best strikers are overly confident and a bit arrogant. If they don’t believe in themselves, they’re in the wrong job.

Dje

Have I missed something regarding Becchio recently? Or has he just had two rather anonymous and ineffectual preseason kick-abouts in Slovakia and now we are worried?

Craig

@Dje

Well said. These games are about fitness, team building and trying out new ideas.

Mike

No

Colin

Don’t forget that The Damned United is on BBC2 at 9pm tomorrow night (Sunday), followed by a documentary on Brian Clough.

And for anyone who fancies a bit of Leeds retro – here’s the infamous Yorkshire TV programme where Revie and Clough were interviewed together following Clugh’s sacking:

Give the kid Somma a chance, most of his goals for Lincoln last season were quality. He looks full of confidence & may save us a few bob in the transfer market. If we do have any money in the bank lets save it for January and see where we are at that point. Who actually believes we are good enough to get promoted for a 2nd consecutive season, christ we crawled out of League 1 for gods sake (4/1 2nd faves to go up with Skybet!!)

richard

I dont think Cloughy was as bad as people make out, That interview was bollox, Don left Leeds end of and shouldnt of been there. Every team encounters new regimes and they should get on with it, its a fact of life.

Craig

@mojoluafc

I agree with you that Revie was very unwise to do this interview and it was hardly fair on Clough! On the other hand it is not difficult to see how ‘old big ‘ead’ rubbed everyone up the wrong way.

Scott Lockwood

we still need another striker but i belive somma will do a good job next year scoring a decent amount of goals

henry vincent lewis

Paynter & Becchio are our best bet for goals, but we need more to do well in the Championship.
They may get 25 between them but won’t be enough for success.
Grella is OK but a bit light weight and needs to be much more aggressive to make his mark.
Somma is confident and strong but the Championship is a big jump for him.
Max will give his best but he is not a striker.

I think Simon will bring some young striker in from the Premier League.

Henry.

Colin

@henryv
I think it’s getting a bit late to bring someone in on loan now from the PL – only 3 weeks to go now!!

I could see Watt coming back but surely a PL team would want their player to be a starter at Leeds – I can’t think of any exciting PL loan talent that would walk into the starting line-up.

Anyone got any thoughts on some promising talents who could join Leeds??

I wouldn’t mind Jay Spearing of Liverpool.

Matt BB

I think we need to concentrate on getting goals from midfield as well though, Howson should have scored more last season and snodgrass most surely. I wonder if the loss of beckford will see Grayson change his tactics a little? I’d love to see our midfielders given a bit more freedom to get up front, they seem very rigid in terms of their formation.

AcresLeeds

It would be nice to have Hooper on board but the money side of things will always be our main problem – at £2.5M (as quoted) it just ain’t gonna happen.

Enter Davide Somma (what a brilliant name and it sounds football sexy if you get my drift – it’s a name with goals written all over it).

Grayson (like the rest of us) didin’t really know what we had in Somma until Lincoln did us a big favour by giving him regular games.He appears to have an excellent touch,vision, strength and a whole load of skill with the ability to finish which is the mark of an excellent striker.

Forget the fact that it was League 2 – if Somma performed like that in the Blue Square then it would be odds on that many league sides would be sniffing around him.

I have a really warm feeling about this guy and next season is gonna be his time.

On the downside,I fear he will be that good that we will then struggle to hold onto him !!!

Watch this space……….you heard it here first !!!

Dje

@AcresLeeds

True, ‘Davide Somma’ is too glamourous a name for aone of our players. I’m waiting for it to come out in the wash that it was a name his agent made up to tout a bit of interest in him, then packed him off on holiday to South Africa for two weeks to brush up on the fake accent.

His real name is Pete Marsden and he was a carpet-fitter from Ossett before Leeds United came sniffing.

Allegedly.

Colin

@Dje I’m not sure it’s true. I grew up in Ossett and I never met or heard of a Pete Marsden. I think that rumour has come from the same source linking Hooper with a move to Leeds

kev cressey

I love Becchio to bits but i just think he’ll struggle to get 8 or more goals in the championship,with Naylors interview today i just think Leeds will be happy with mid table this season,hope I’m wrong !!

Colin

I think our Leeds side will be mid table. I hate to say it but that Burnley (yes Burnley, urrrgh!!) side could destroy us and they’ve got the parachute payment.

Becchio – I think Beckford carried him last season to some extent. I’m not sure he’ll be even starting this season. As it currently stands for me it’s Paynter and Somma upfront (with Gradel as a sub to come on if we need more goals).

TheReaper08

@colin Astonishing really, when Beckford was considering leaving everyone was saying that he wasn’t as good as Becchio. I distictly remember being told that the only reason Becchio doesn’t get more goals was because he was working so hard to set up Beckford, who would then miss the chances created for him.

Not saying it was you mate just marvelling at the masses pulling Becchio apart.

les irwin

to be fair i thought somma was always going to be ok as a sub, for me grella could do with a loan out til chrimbo as someone else has said i think becchio will struggle a little thats why we will need a proven striker .and a decent one will cost money 1or2 million ,im pretty much sure that it will be a loan striker if we get one at all i have this horrible feeling our spending is done @600.000 ,dont know if any one wants to try change my mind
im not convinced about next season dont think relegation is a possibility but promo is way off .i know we got promoted last season ,we had a cup run some big crowds ,liverpool in league cup and quite a few sky games and fa cup games on bbc 6 mill for delph i read a report this week that quoted grayson saying there is a bit of money but not a lot ???????????????? can some one tell me where its gone ,the money that is
as for somma give him a go, why not he might get 20 goals we will never know if we dont play him

Cossie(LUFC)

Interesting debate. Somma impressed at Lincoln last season and seems to be impressing on the tour games. Unfortunately he will miss first 3 games and Max the first 4 so it looks like Becchio and Paynter will start the season. Delfonso at Villa was mentioned but can’t see him being loaned out by MoN and wasn’t impressed by Watt last season. I know it’s not right to mention anyone from scum but what about Welbeck or the Italian? Ferguson will want them to get match practise and playing in front of decent crowds at Elland Road might suit either of them, just a thought

tim campbell

I know I keep harping on about it but there is still the seven brazilian trialists to consider unless uncle kenneth was telling porky’s

yorkwhite

I think he was waxing lyrical

tim the white

We still need another proven striker and also Sanchez Watts back for a season. What we little we saw last season was very good.
Many more goals must come from midfield – will MacArthur arrive or are not spending any money? You can’t get everything for nothing but maybe something will come out of the triallists due to arrive next week. Personally speaking,I know we haven’t in any way replaced JB’s goals yet and it’s a worry – warts and all we will miss him badly and he could turn out to be the steal of the century for Everton.

Danish White

@Dje – Carpet-fitters have talent ! Just look at Peter Schmeichel – he was a carpet-fitter.

Paul South Wales

Hooper’s wanted by the bar-codes according to Sky SN and they’r lining up a £2.5M bid for him, so that’s the end of that. I think McArthur will arrive shortly, so that just leaves a striker. The scum Italian is an excellent shout along side Somma and Paynter. I too think Becchio will struggle in this league and wasn’t impressed by Watt last season, so that area’s still a bit of a concern with time running out. With the two suspensions running at the start of the season we need some serious fire-power, the next three weeks will be very interesting.

Craig

You think McArthur will arrive, despite the fact that Grayson said he wasn’t interested? If he goes for him after saying what he did, that that sure is some mind game!

Paul South Wales

What about scouring Mexico for carpet fitters…….UNDERLAY UNDERLAY!!!!

TheReaper08

@ Paul South Wales

Shocking mate, shocking….

Mike Lord

Personally i think Leeds will go back up to the Premiership at the 1st ask.

derbyshirewhite

Newcastle United stormed the Championship last year without a prolific striker. Their advantage was a quality, hard working set of defenders and midfielders. It saddens me to say it, but Naylor, Hughes and Bromby wouldn’t have made their bench. We need some more muscle in the middle of the park if we’re to compete in our new surroundings.

TheReaper08

@derbyshirewhite Andy Carroll got 17 which isn’t bad when the league top scorer got 22.

More importantly Kevin Nolan got 17 also from midfield, I don’t think our entire midfield got 17 in L1 last year !

Paul South Wales

I can’t see us going straight back up and don’t think we’re ready for it yet. Time will tell though

Matt BB

I also dont think we’re ready for a successive promotion but saying that if we have a strong season in the championship and make some good signings I dont see why that wouldnt change? Are Blackpool dropping a letter to the premier league asking for an honourable relegation? I bet they arent?

Colin

@number1inyorkshire
regarding money – i think it’s being saved for a rainy day – I think that if Leeds want to get promotion (and i don’t think it will be this season) then they’ll need at least one PL quality striker and you won’t get one for £2m – you’d need more like £5-6m unless you’re lucky and you get someone on a Bosman.

I don’t think we got £6m for Delph – i think that comes over time if he makes a certain amount of appearances for Villa and that hasn’t happened yet. Does anyone think he’ll be playing next season for Villa? Is he back from injury now?

Colin

Regarding money – i’ve just checked out what Burnley get from parachute payments:

£48million over four years!

Previously it was £16million a year over two years.

So they’ve got £12m this season in the bank and a better squad than us and we’ve spent £600k.

We can’t compete with them. It’s just not a level playing field. That said, at least we’re in the black which is more than some of the clubs in the Championship, so I think we’ll be okay.

I think this season will be great because we all know that even though we’ve just been promoted, everyone will want to put one over on Leeds – it’s going to be a cup atmosphere at every game, especially the ones against Yorkshire opposition, because let’s face it, Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Middlesbrough, Scunthorpe and Sheff Utd hate us. Why? Because we’re bigger than all of them and they know it.

If you asked a random sample of people across the UK to name a football team from Yorkshire (in a Family Fortunes type way) the top answer would be Leeds United. And that seriously annoys all the other Yorkshire clubs.

If Hull City think they’re bigger than Leeds, that’s like New Zealand trying to take on USA in a fight.

TheReaper08

@colin Whilst the teams with the parachute payments are at a massive advantage it isn’t necessarily as black and white as first indicated. Clubs promoted from the Championship usually trigger increased contracts for players retained and the players they then sign are done so on big fat Premier League contracts. When they invariably drop back down again they do get the parachute payments but then most of there costs are now spiralling out of control.

It’s a fine line, even with the payments.

Matt BB

Reapers right, clubs dont budget serason to season, most of our contracts are at the outside two to three years for our players, and while there are obvious benefots to the parachute payments, what you then lose in tv rights, sponsorship and gate receipts means that your exposure in terms of your committed contracts and so on, actually leaves you with an airbag more than a parachute.

We did in fairness manage to spend a few million quid though with our partachute money, so it is an advantage though maybe not the massive one people think. Look at what happens to big clubs that get relegated and dont get straight back they are generally the ones who end up in administration.

Michael Lord

^^^^^ Post of the day for sure.

Michael Lord

I do think we have the quality to challenge at the top of the Championship. Whether we have the mental bottle/strength to get the job done is another matter. I query this due to limping across the line last season.

mike howell

Remember its not all about how much money you have on the field it’s about players stepping up to the plate,it’s about the manager getting the tactics right and it’s about the fans getting behind the players in a positive way, how much money did manure,spurs and liverpool have on the field compared to us or even histon.The strikers we have at the moment wear the shirt because SG believes thy’re good enough to wear the shirt.If he brings another in so be it , but if he is happy to play with what we have then,also so be it//////// he’s the gaffer //// he’s the profesional manager/////// that’s his job.
Just my opinion

Dje

Love all the carpet-fitting gags; great stuff.

I could have sworn that one team’s nickname was ‘The Carpet-Fitters’ but I can’t seem to find out which one it was.

I think Dunfermaline Athletic had some nickname association with lino too, owing to the damn stuff being made that way.

Paul South Wales

There’s a pile of gags about that boom boom

mike howell

Everton parading their new pink strips////////
They are also rumoured to be looking at players= Young= Keane and Bent

mike howell

SORRY couldn’t of a carpet fitting gag.

mike howell

SORRY couldn’t think of a carpetfitting gag.

Matt BB

For me we can learn from Somma, pt grella out on loan to someone like Charlton Athletic, a top end league one team and see what happens. I was also interested to read what Somma said about all he learnt from Chris Sutton. We need a coach to work with our strikers urgently, and I’ve said that before. I think sensibly though that Somma is an option – not the answer. We still need a replacement for Beckford, and Whilst I’ve been in Portugal I’ve seen so much bilge on the internet that quite frankly its getting tedious, we all know that Larry does his signing behind closed doors, I’d like to see us getting someone soon though, the clock is ticking.

les irwin

just been reading what somma has been saying ??? if they are his words it all sounds encouraging .still i would bring in another striker .got a question if anyone knows the answer,do we think or is there any evidence that in our case leeds united read these blog sites etc ,or any other club that is relevant to their sites cheers if any one does know

Matt BB

i dont know, but lets be honest if you were a journalist for any of the red tops you would look at these. If we were going to be cruel then we should strat our own rumours to see if it’s true.

Craig

@mattbb

If I were a journalist for the red tops my personal integrity would have been worn so thin I’d be looking for another job.

Matt BB

@craig you’re assuming they have some integrity, youre talking about people who’s job it is to highlight peoples downfall, I fell out of love with the tabloids when they played their part in talking leeds united down when we needed them to be rooting for us.

When we found ourselves in financial meltdown there was an almost joyous explosion from the tabloids about it, which we havent seen for Portsmouth (who everyone seems to love)

I just fail to believe most of what i read in them generally. The Mirror and the news of the world seem sometimes to have even been watching different games to those actually taking place when you read their match reports, idle all of them.

Craig

At least you CAN read Matt. Most people who buy the red tops can only look at the pictures!

Craig

The Mirror + NoW prepare their reports after watching The Football League Show.

Matt BB

@craig yes there are a lot of pictures in the red tops and i think they think syllables are characters of harry potter… I suppose journalism would be a little boring without them! I have a friend who is a football journalist, actually he worked at MUTV.. although a liverpool supporter, he doesnt have much tioome for the tabloids though I think hed like a job on one of them!